Home › Forums › The Art Business Center › General Art Business › People want to buy my art but I dont know how to price.
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May 11, 2018 at 12:37 pm #455920
Hi there, so recently I showed off some of my digital artwork and some people asked me my prices. I can do both digital and oil paintings, I have never sold art before.
C & C Welcome!
May 11, 2018 at 1:56 pm #620599Look for things of similar quality (And size when working on oils) on YOUR COUNTRY. Use that as a baseline.
"no no! You are doing it all wrong, in the internet we are supposed to be stubborn, inflexible and arrogant. One cannot simply be suddenly reasonable and reflexive in the internet, that breaks years of internet tradition as a medium of anger, arrogance, bigotry and self entitlement. Damm these internet newcomers being nice to to others!!!"
"If brute force does not solve your problem, then you are not using enough!"
May 11, 2018 at 7:39 pm #620636I just say “Make an offer” and go from there.
"All of us get lost in the darkness... Dreamers learn to steer by the stars"
www.brianfioreart-aviartisa.comMay 11, 2018 at 7:57 pm #620629I just say “Make an offer” and go from there.
Thank you everyone for your responses. I guess I found a niche that I never expected.
C & C Welcome!
May 13, 2018 at 3:42 pm #620615I would work out the lowest price that you’d be willing to sell for. Imagine that you work full time. Then work out how many paintings you can make in a working week (approx 48 hours), and how many you can make in a working year (52weeks minus a generous two weeks for a holiday and days off (you’re a professional artist – this is how hard you need to work)). Then work out your desired hourly wage and the absolute minimum that you’d be willing to work for (When I first started for me this was a bit better than the UK’s minimum wage). So if you can produce 10 paintings in 48 hours, that would be 4.8 hours per painting. Multiply your minimum hourly wage by 4.8, and that gives you the value of your painting. It probably doesn’t seem like much, but once you’re actually selling you can then increase your hourly rate (if you dare – you may start worrying about killing your market by over pricing). Of course I’ve simplified things, and you’ll probably have different sized paintings, drawings, watercolours etc. The point is, you need to secure your first sales, and once you’ve done that you are a professional artist selling art for money, thinking in a business like way about selling art.
May 13, 2018 at 3:49 pm #620616Alternatively another way is to work out what people are willing to spend on a luxury gift for someone such as their father or girlfriend etc, and price your paintings accordingly. Unfortunately, most of us artist’s are in competition with mass production and that’s generally what terms the average buyer thinks in. Your painting or a new washing machine (the painting generally looses).
May 15, 2018 at 8:49 pm #620614Don’t use the “make me an offer” method. You will be undersold. Do your homework and determine from similar markets what your work is worth. You may also find a professional gallery owner or appraiser in your area who can help you.
May 16, 2018 at 12:35 pm #620597If selling locally, the area economy needs to be considered..
~Joy~
May 17, 2018 at 7:18 am #620617Set a “hell yeah!” price–a price you would feel “hell yeah!” to get. Don’t be humble, because people suss that out and many even will back out of a sale because they are suspicious that the item is not worth anything at all. Professional sellers are not humble. They decide what they want and they ask for it without cringing. It is just being professional.
Other people’s remarks about seeing what similar things are going for are helpful. But you have to start somewhere.
https://www.haroldroth.com/
https://www.instagram.com/haroldrothart
https://www.facebook.com/haroldrothartistMay 17, 2018 at 11:47 pm #620634I can’t remember who the guy was that I saw on youtube advising about how much to sell your paintings for awhile back. But he said to begin with $2 per square inch of the work. Times the width and height and then times that by 2 and there’s the price. As you get better at your art, then you can start revising your prices upwards.
For instance, a 6 inch by 9 inch painting would be priced at $108 by using that means. I think that’s really a pretty good rule of thumb. And then he said that you add on the cost of the mat and framing so you’re not bearing the cost of that yourself. I don’t remember how much he said to add on for the mat and framing but I think he said to add on a price that covers your cost and your effort in doing the mat and frame.
May 18, 2018 at 8:08 am #620600If your work is going in a gallery, don’t forget to take into account the gallery commission when you calculate your painting price, including framing costs.
Thankfully, no one in this thread has suggested using time and materials as a method for calculating painting sales prices.
Sling paint,
VirgilSling paint,
Virgil Carter
http://www.virgilcarterfineart.com/May 18, 2018 at 8:16 pm #620630Thanks for the input guys, I put one of my paintings up for 33 dollars but I got no buyers yet. I wonder if there is something wrong with the painting?
https://i.gyazo.com/3ac7d73cd4df39c4a315fd5bf486085e.png
C & C Welcome!
May 18, 2018 at 9:34 pm #620601What size is your $33 painting?
Sling paint,
VirgilSling paint,
Virgil Carter
http://www.virgilcarterfineart.com/May 18, 2018 at 10:32 pm #620631What size is your $33 painting?
Sling paint,
Virgil16 by 12 inches.
C & C Welcome!
May 19, 2018 at 8:14 am #620602“…16 by 12 inches…”
Your price of $33 is less than $0.18 per square inch. That’s cheaper than floor tile…are you sure you’re in the right field of endeavor?
Sling paint,
VirgilSling paint,
Virgil Carter
http://www.virgilcarterfineart.com/ -
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